Section 2, Confessions and Other Statements: Nate Chase
January 20, 2022, 9:35 p.m.
Detective Diaz: To begin, this conversation is being recorded, as per Illinois statute. Please state, for the record, your name and age.
Nate: Nathaniel Chase Jr. But I go by Nate. I’m seventeen. I turn eighteen next week.
Diaz: The arresting officer informed you of your Miranda rights and you have agreed to speak to me and Detective Crowe without a lawyer present.
Detective Crowe: Attempts have been made to contact your parents.
Nate: You know who my dad is, right? Alderman Chase.
Crowe: We are aware.
Nate: As my dad always says, the innocent have nothing to hide. [smiles] Go ahead.
Crowe: Your parents are at your second home in Michigan, it seems.
Nate: I’m sure they’re on their way and heads will roll when they get here.
Diaz: [clears throat] You’re wearing glasses. Do you wear them all the time?
Nate: Starting with the tough questions, huh? [chuckles] Yeah, pretty much all the time.
Crowe: Do you have more than one pair of glasses?
Nate: I mean, yeah. I’ve got like four, maybe five. Who only has one pair?
Diaz: And you’re a… um… birder? Is that correct? You have a YouTube Channel.
Nate: [scoffs] With over a hundred thousand subscribers. I’m not just a birder. The New Yorker called me “Audubon for the Gen Z set.” I’m published in major nature journals. The Tribune did a whole spread on me.
Diaz: And do you wear your glasses when birding?
Nate: I said all the time. Except for when I’m sleeping and in the shower.
Diaz: Why don’t you get contacts? I’m sure you can afford them.
Nate: Obviously. But my glasses are, like, my signature look. My prescription’s not strong, and I barely even need to wear them. But it’s part of my birder uniform, my brand.
Diaz: Do you ever buy custom frames? Frames made solely for you?
Nate: [rolls eyes] I know what “custom” means. And yes, I said they were my signature piece. You can’t have a signature piece if you’re a lemming. Each of my frames is unique.
Diaz: And did you ever purchase one of those, um, signature pieces from Chelsea Optixx in London?
Nate: Yes, I bought a pair from there. But you obviously know that or you wouldn’t be asking me these asinine questions.
Diaz: A green pair? Ones you wore in some of those birding videos?
Nate: [nods]
Crowe: Please answer, yes or no.
Nate: Yes.
Diaz: And where is that unique, one-of-a-kind green pair of glasses right now?
Nate: Probably my bathroom? My bedroom? I don’t know. Not like I keep a log of where I left them.
Crowe: Detectives are searching your home right now.
Nate: [fidgets in chair, stays quiet]
Diaz: Are these your glasses?
Crowe: [pushes photos across table of glasses in evidence]
Nate: I can’t say for sure. I mean, they could be. They look… uh… similar. But no. I don’t know.
Crowe: But aren’t they unique to you? Yours alone?
Nate: Yeah, but I don’t have a photographic memory or anything. They could be any green glasses. Maybe they look like mine, but so what? They’re glasses. Not fingerprints.
Diaz: So… they were found at the murder scene by Jackson Park and we were able to lift prints off them. Did they fall off when you were dumping the body or did you lose them when you went back to the scene of the crime?
Nate: [looks down] Can one of you get me some coffee?